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"Give us bread but give us roses" is the refrain of an old union organizers' song, calling for not only a living wage but also respect for those who did some of society's most dangerous work. Bread and Roses, directed by acclaimed British director Ken Loach (My Name Is Joe, Hidden Agenda), takes a contemporary look at this issue, Southern California-style. Bread tells the story of Maya (Elpidia Carrillo), a young, ambitious illegal immigrant from Mexico who joins organizer Sam (Adrien Brody) in his efforts to unionize her fellow workers. Despite opposition from both her sister Rosa and fearful colleagues, she soon parlays her eagerness to work into an outrage against the often strict and arbitrary treatment she and other workers encounter. Loach, who is no stranger to Britain's working poor, does a moving and impressive job in his first foray across the pond, illuminating the murky waters of America's complex labor issues and our fraught relations with those who do our society's dirtiest work. The engaging Carrillo beautifully articulates Maya's growing sense of outrage as her battle for unionization harrowingly becomes a fight for her life.

All Movie Guide

Leftist filmmaker Ken Loach directs this grim drama about the plight of seemingly invisible office cleaners in contemporary L.A. who often earn as little as $6 a day without benefits. The film opens as Maya (Pilar Padilla), a young Mexican lass, is reuniting with her older sister Rosa (Elpidia Carrilio) in L.A. after a harrowing cross-border journey. Rosa sets her sister up first with a job as a barmaid, which Maya soon quits after getting repeatedly groped -- and then as a janitor. When her boss demands one month's salary as "commission," Maya happens upon Sam Shapiro (Adrien Brody), a muckraking lawyer and union agitator. This film, which was screened in competition at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, is remarkable for its prescience -- it was shown a month after a massive janitor's strike ground L.A.'s business community to a halt. Jonathan Crow

Product Details

• UPC: 658149788626
• Source: LIONS GATE
• Region Code: 1
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, Español
• Time: 1:50:00
• Sales Rank: 21,427

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